ATLANTA – Three takeaways the morning after the Nuggets’ 96-84 loss to Atlanta on Sunday afternoon.

Finding a few good reserves. The Nuggets bench suffered through one of its worst outings all year long, which would have definitely qualified for the worst outing had Alonzo Gee not played so well in the second half. If you remove Gee’s 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting, the rest of the reserves went 4-of-26 from the field, including 0-of-11 from the 3-point line. Still, off shooting nights happen. The bigger issue is the lack of faith in the bench that crept into Nuggets coach Brian Shaw’s mind. “Sometimes I feel like I can’t take (the starters) out, and I know that I have to,” he said afterward. Read more…

When: Fear. The. Beard. Somehow, James Harden has flown under the radar — as much as a superstar can, anyway — early this season. But his play over the last week has not escaped our notice, and he’s this week’s Denver Post player of the week.

What’s up: In three games, all wins for the Rockets, Harden was as efficient and effective as you’ll see. He averaged 31.0 points on just 14.0 shots per game. Harden knocked down 61.9 percent of those attempts and shot 60 percent from 3-point range. He was a plus-14 for the evaluation period of Nov. 29-Dec. 5 and added 5.7 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals per night.

Background: While the bulk of the attention in the early season has been paid to Cleveland, Golden State and Memphis, Houston has quietly rolled along. Harden has been terrific on offense, as he normally is, carving up defenses and making a steady march to the free-throw line. He averaged an incredible 11.7 free-throw attempts per game in the evaluation period.

Dempsey’s take: Harden takes hits for his lack of defense — he has even taken a humorous shot at himself in a recent commercial for his shortcomings on that end of the court. But there isn’t a team in the league that wouldn’t take him. His ability to get to the rim and get fouled might be the best in the NBA. Harden scores from the 3-point line to the paint, puts immense pressure on opposing defenses and will be the reason for any big-time success the Rockets experience this season.

Nuggets coach Brian Shaw is well into his tenure, having coached 100 games. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

WASHINGTON — In this presidential city, one that measures job progress after just 90 days and checks in frequently thereafter, Nuggets coach Brian Shaw was asked to take the temperature of his tenure after 100 games. Shaw’s 100th game coached was Tuesday’s game against Portland.

Ujiri became the Nuggets’ general manager in 2010 and orchestrated the Carmelo Anthony deal in February 2011. In 2013 he was named the NBA’s executive of the year, but he signed sign a five-year deal to be the Raptors’ general manager that May.

The Raptors hadn’t reached .500 in the previous five years when he took over. They returned to the playoffs last season and are now 15-4 (.789) to sit atop the Eastern Conference standings.

Tim Connelly took over for the Nuggets in June of 2013 and had to deal with every problem (and injury) imaginable for a GM in his first year. The Nuggets started out slow this season, but have since turned things around to get back to .500 (9-9).

Going small. Timofey Mozgov might have finished with a double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds), but the Nuggets spent a big chunk of the game employing small lineups. The most effective lineup of the night? Nate Robinson/Gary Harris/Danilo Gallinari/Darrell Arthur/J.J. Hickson. They spent six minutes on the court together, in the second quarter, and here’s how that broke down: They scored 20 points – yes, in just six minutes – on 8-of-13 shots (61.5 percent), 2-of-4 from the 3-point line with six rebounds, six assists and were a plus-14 on the night, the best plus-minus mark of any Nuggets lineup on Monday night. They were only outscored by the Nuggets starting lineup, which scored 34 points as a group in 17 minutes. Read more…

When: There are a few teams that are truly separating themselves early on as being among the NBA’s elite. The Golden State Warriors are one of them, and their superstar — Stephen Curry – is this week’s Post Player of the Week.

What’s up: In four games Curry shot the lights out. What else would we expect? He averaged 27.3 points on 52.2 percent shooting from the field, including 48.6 percent from the 3-point line during the evaluation period of Nov. 22-28. Curry added 6.8 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game in that span. The Warriors won all four games.

1. There is a cap on tempo. Bet you never thought you’d see this: There is a pace that’s too fast for the Nuggets, and on Wednesday it was The Flash brand of basketball played by Phoenix. It’s not as if the Nuggets can’t run up-and-down the court and score when the game gets lightning fast. They can. The issue with these Nuggets is turnovers. When the game speeds up, the Nuggets get more careless. And that was part of the problem, no doubt. But there were a number of unforced errors when the pace was slower as well.

Kirk Hinrich is one of the league’s toughest on-ball defenders, but Ty Lawson made getting around him look easy in the Nuggets’ 114-109 win over the Bulls at Pepsi Center on Tuesday.

Lawson, who only had two points in the first half, turned it up offensively in the second, pouring in 18 points in the final 18 minutes to go along with with his 12 assists and three steals. Read more…

Dallas Mavericks guard Monta Ellis gets the by Sacramento Kings’ Ray McCallum (3) and Carl Landry, bottom left, for a score in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Nov. 11, 2014, in Dallas. (Tony Gutierrez, The Associated Press)

Spotlight on… Monta Ellis, guard, Mavericks

When: You need to look no farther than the state of Texas to find one of the hottest teams in the NBA — the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs are off to a fast start this season, and Monta Ellis, The Denver Post’s NBA player of the week, is a huge reason.

What’s up: Ellis was superb during the evaluation period of Nov. 15-21 with averages of 25.5 points and 4.8 assists in four games for the Mavericks, all wins. Eills shot 50.7 percent from the field, 47.1 percent from 3-point range and 85.7 percent from the charity stripe. He was a plus-16.8 in those contests going into Saturday’s game against in-state rival Houston.

1. Rotation matters. In the last two games, the Nuggets have doled out the lion’s share of the minutes to these five players – Ty Lawson, Arron Afflalo, Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried, Timofey Mozgov. Here’s how that breaks down: Those five, the Nuggets’ starting five, have played 44 minutes out of a possible 96, so 45 percent of the time.

Memphis Grizzlies’ Vince Carter wipes his eyes during a tribute to him by the Toronto Raptors during first-half NBA basketball action in Toronto, on Nov. 19, 2014. (The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn, The Canadian Press via AP)

Vinsanity lives in Toronto. At least for one more night.

Memphis Grizzlies forward Vince Carter was moved to tears Wednesday during a video tribute in the first quarter by Toronto Raptors to its former star. The clip featured highlights from Carter’s six years playing with the team where he was dubbed “Air Canada.”

The crowd gave Carter a standing ovation.

“I hate that it ended that way,” Carter said in the video. “Just because of so many memories here and we had great times here.”

The top overall pick in the D-League’s 2001 draft, Andersen went on to become one of the NBA’s top defensive big men. He played a total of six-plus seasons with the Nuggets in two different stints, and picked up the nickname “Birdman” from Nuggets teammates Junior Harrington and Kenny Satterfield in along the way because of his impressive dunks.

The Nuggets amnestied Andersen in 2012, but six months later he signed a 10-day contract with Miami and was kept on for the remainder of the season, helping LeBron James and the Heat to a title in 2013. Last July he signed a two-year deal to stay with the Heat.

Nuggets coach Brian Shaw directs his team during its win Monday over Cleveland. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

CLEVELAND – Three takeaways the morning after the Nuggets’ 106-97 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday.

1. Starters revenge. Let’s face it: The Nuggets’ starting crew has been a battered bunch – from criticism. And justifiably so in most every case; it hadn’t been a noteworthy early season for them as the Nuggets routinely got out to slow starts and in some cases carried those slow starts throughout feet-in-quicksand full-game performances. But on Monday the starters were the stars. They were the source of the vast majority of production – 81 of the Nuggets’ 106 points, 26 of the 39 rebounds, 17 of the 25 assists – kept the pressure up defensively, the pedal to the metal offensively and made the majority of the game-changing plays. Read more…

Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo clears out some room between himself and New York guard Pablo Prigioni during Sunday’s game. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

NEW YORK – Three takeaways the morning after the Nuggets’ 109-93 loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

1. Connelly staying calm. None of this is what anyone in the Nuggets organization, most of all general manager Tim Connelly, wanted. The Nuggets’ 2-7 start – with a game coming up in Cleveland looming – is exactly the opposite of what he’d envisioned the start for his rapidly-healing team might be. But it has underperformed. Still, at this point Connelly says he’s not pressing the panic button. “Certainly we’ve struggled,” he said after the game. “But it’s early.” Read more…

The Nuggets just got destroyed (again), this time 109-93 to the Knicks in New York. After starting out hot, the Nuggets shot 29 percent in the last three quarters and made only one field goal in the second, when JaVale McGee also airballed that free throw. It was perhaps lowest point of another low point in the Nuggets’ 2-7 season. Read more…

NEW YORK – Gary Harris will suit up for his second straight game, Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said Sunday morning.

The rookie impressed in his NBA debut, scoring 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting against the Indiana Pacers on Friday night. He added two steals and a block, displaying flashes of the type of defense he was known for in his two collegiate seasons at Michigan State.

“I liked the fact that he was poised,” Shaw said. “It was his first NBA action, in his hometown, and he looked like he belonged. He didn’t look back. He was very aggressive offensively, he was aggressive defensively. It was exactly what we needed. I think he got caught up a couple of times because he was going good, had a couple of heat-checks. But for the most part I was encouraged by his performance.”Read more…

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.

Nicki Jhabvala is the Sports Digital News Editor for The Denver Post. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor, and she was most recently the overnight home page editor at the New York Times.